Revisionary jurisdiction fails when notices and orders are issued in the name of a deceased assessee.

Revision under section 263 was held unsustainable where the assessment and revisional proceedings were initiated and completed in the name of an assessee who had already died. The record itself noted the death of the assessee, yet the notice, assessment order and revisional order were all issued to the deceased person. A notice issued after death cannot be validly served on a non-existent person, and proceedings founded on such notice are void. Because the defect went to the root of jurisdiction, the section 263 order was quashed and the appeal was allowed.

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Issues: Whether the revisionary order under section 263 and the underlying assessment proceedings were valid when the notices and orders were issued in the name of an assessee who had already died.

Analysis: The death of the assessee was recorded in the assessment order itself. Even so, the assessment was completed in the name of the deceased assessee and the revisionary notice under section 263, as well as the revisional order, were also issued in the name of the dead person. A notice issued after death cannot be validly served on the deceased, and proceedings founded on such notice are legally unsustainable. Since the revisional jurisdiction was exercised on the basis of an invalid notice and against a non-existent person, the defect went to the root of the matter.

Conclusion: The order under section 263 was quashed and the appeal was allowed.

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